#SL Mesh Update Week 29

by

Mesh development is continuing. There is almost no discussion of anything new. The focus is on getting mesh working and the import and cost calculations worked out. The Lindens are concentrating on bug fixes and getting this initial roll out working.

You can see in the image a couple of Tiny’s. These are tiny tiny avatars. Both are way cute.

Some tiny tinies...

Physics Weight

Experiments by Drongle McMahon brought him to the conclusion that for objects under 0.5 meters the physics shape silently converts to a convex hull. Charlar Linden thinks that is what the system does, but will need to confirm with Nyx to be sure.

Read more

Second Life and OpenSim Stats

by

I like impartial numbers. Their meaning is not always clear. But, they allow us to form our opinion on some unbiased information. It is up to us to be intellectually honest and consider all sides of our opinions. We hopefully get a rational perspective and keep our opinions within a real context. Is OpenSim replacing Second Life? Is Second Life doomed or about grow or just stagnate?

OpenSim

Yesterday, the 15th, Hypergrid Business published the article titled: OpenSim grids break records for regions; users. Sounds awesome. Of course it is a headline and I expect some hype. They published the following graph in the article to show the data they considered.

OpenSim Region Count - From Hypergrid Business - Enlarge

The total number of regions in all the grids is 16,959. This is about half the number of regions as Second Life, which is roughly 32,000. OSGrid is the largest single grid with 6,671. ScienceSim is next with 1,810. The stair-stepped saw tooth is from periodic data clean up. People add regions and eventually let them die. Every so often the grid owners clean up the data and registrations. The steps should be getting smaller as clean ups are becoming automated and more frequent.

Read more

Google+ Enters Griefer-Hacker Wars

by

Pixeleen Mistral, a Second Life avatar, was recently suspended by Google+. She posted an article in Alphaville Herald, Google+ Suspends Pixeleen Mistral – Nerfs Data Liberation Front. This article should give all Google users pause. Pixeleen was blocked from Google+ and Gmail.

Another Suspension and Gmail Block

I think we all know Facebook and Google are in business and a prime source of their income is marketing data with an emphasis on your personal data. What many have not thought of is their personal data, i.e., contact lists and other information you personally create. Pixeleen is pointing out that being blocked in Google+ can cut you off from your data. You won’t be able to access it or download it. I don’t mean ONLY your Google+ data. I mean all of it in any of the Google Services.

Read more

Phoenix Hour Summary

by

Shug Maitland asked me about a subject that came up in the Phoenix Hour. I’ve been busy with RL this week and not keeping up as much as usual. I had no clue what I was being asked about. I took the time to see what the New Web Profiles fuss was that came up. Also see: New Second Life Web Profiles on Demo

 

Video Start

Link to video: July 12 Phoenix Hour

0:00 to 4:36 is about Phaylen’s bake fail.

Horrors of Bake Fail

4:36 – Jessica says Firestorm Beta 2 now has 25,000 users and growing.  Jessica says they see lots of new users that have not used Firestorm before. My immediate question is how they know if you have used Firestorm before or not?

5:43 – Firestorm and Phoenix support confusion, people forget to say which viewer  they are asking questions about in the support group. Remember to give them a hint when asking questions.

6:50 – Phoenix update, no date for the next release. They do plan to support Phoenix until the grid makes it obsolete. Obsolete being when it fails to render the world correctly and the Lab services it needs go off line. While Linden Lab has said they will not block series 1 viewers, they do not plan to provide the support services they need forever.

Read more

New Second Life Web Profiles on Demo

by

UPDATE: These profiles have now gone live in Second Life. Just open your profile to see it.

In the Phoenix Hour Jessica provided a link to the new Twitter like web profile. Fredrik Linden is leading the way on this project. Live feed in your profile is an interesting concept. It also reveals the direction the Lab is heading. I think it also gives a keen insight into what much of the BIG announcement at SLCC may be.

Demo Second Life Twitter-like Feed in Profile - Click to Enlarge

Shug Maitland asked about what the impacts of this new move toward Social Networking would mean for SL residents that want to avoid mixing real life and Second Life. At this point I don’t know. This is the first of the new Web Profiles 2 that I’m seeing. So, more coming soon.

The image above is from the Firestorm Beta 2 Viewer. It is NOT part of the current Firestorm Profile panel. The team will add a button to Firestorm to allow one to access the shown profile in the next release.

To see the profile in all its glory open Fredrik’s profile in a web browser. Also, see the image below.

Read more